Air to air rockets P/O Cyril Kroemer

P/O Cyril Kroemer - Air to air rockets

In 1943 the Luftwaffe adapted the Nebelwerfer 42 rocket for use against Allied bombers, initially it seems, to disrupt USAAF bomber box formations. The Werfer-granate 21 was hoped to become an even more potent weapon than the Luftwaffe fighters' existing 20mm cannons, with a longer range and a 21cm diameter HE warhead. The earliest known use against bombers was at the end of July 1943 on the USAAF daylight raids on Kiel and Warnamunde. The rockets displayed considerable pyrotechnic effect in addition to their hitting power, but accuracy proved a problem.

Single launch tubes were fitted beneath the wings of Bf109 and Fw190 single-engine fighters and it is thought that some Me210 Ca-1s had three tubes under each wing, but these appear to have been used as day-fighters only. The rocket was modified for use in the air, having a 90lb war-head and being fitted with a time-fuse. However the launch tubes had to be set with an upward firing angle of about 15° from the horizontal to allow for the rocket trajectory, which increased the already considerable drag from the rockets and tubes, with significantly adverse effects on aircraft performance and manoeuvrability.

In all likelihood on 1^st/2^nd January 1944, P/O Cyril Kroemer had been fired upon by a single-engine 'wild-boar' fighter armed with under-wing Werfer-granate 21 rockets.